1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention broadly relates to novel implements used in the performance of a sport. More specifically, the invention relates to a sport that employs a ball and an instrument for striking it. Still more specifically, the invention relates to the game of golf and a club used for striking a golf ball. Still even more specifically, the invention relates to the game of golf and a putter for advantageously putting a golf ball.
2. Background Discussion
Various related technology has been proposed by the prior art as exemplified by the following United States Patents which are incorporated herein in their entireties for the purpose of enabling the person of ordinary skill in the art to practice the instant invention.
Golf putter technology has been the subject of many innovations in recent years, some of which are scientifically well-founded, others of which may be considered merely psychological. However, whether the results are psychological or based on scientific reasoning, the value of the putter is in the results. Regardless, innovations which are scientifically sound are preferred since they are more widely accepted by a large range of golfers.
Through the years there has been much effort expended in improving golf clubs, particularly putters, and with much concentration on the development of means to enable a golfer to properly strike a golf ball on a true line toward the hole. In particular, it has been common to provide a method to align the head of the putter for more accurate putting. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,917,277, 3,866,922, 3,955,819, 3,921,984, 4,209,172, 4,519,612, and 3,880,430.
In addition, numerous efforts have been made to alter the weight distribution of a putter in an effort to reduce the tendency of a putter to rotate when a golf ball is struck off center. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,265,451, 3,843,122, 4,253,667, 4,369,974, and 1,537,320.
In addition, in the never-ending search to improve putting, numerous practice devices not usable on a golf course have been invented, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,153,235, 4,010,958, 3,893,678, 3,893,673, and 3,384,376.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,384,376 discloses a practice golf putter with a shaft running through the face of the putter and detachable guides directing both in front of and behind the face of the putter. Such a putter may not be a legal putter under the United States Golf Association Rules since it provides alignment means in front of the club face. In addition it does not provide the balanced weight distribution found to be most conducive for accurate putting.
In order to accomplish the conventional golf swing, the golfer stands facing the ball, with the cup located at an approximate 90.degree. angle from the direction in which the golfer is facing. Taking this stance, the golfer must choose between looking at the ball, the terrain over which the ball is intended to travel, or the cup. In no manner can the golfer obtain a line-of-sight that includes both the ball and the cup while occupied with this stance. Nevertheless, this stance and approach is advantageous when attempting very long putts owing to the large amount of energy imparted to the ball. However, the vast majority of putts attempted are of relatively short distance, and require accuracy rather than brute force. For this majority of putts, the conventional stance offers serious difficulties, and the long backstroke and follow through provided are of no particular benefit. As mentioned above, the golfer cannot establish a line-of-sight from the ball to the cup while facing 90.degree. from the cup. When using the conventional stance, most golfers stand behind the ball to establish such a line-of-sight, then lose the effect upon approaching the ball. It has been found advantageous in many other sports to continuously maintain such a direct line-of-sight. For example, it is generally conceded that the jump shot has greatly contributed to modem basketball field-goal percentages. The jump shot is especially effective because the shooter jumps directly toward the basket when he releases the ball. His hand and arm, the ball, and the basket are all along a line or arc extending directly in front of the shooter. This is in contrast to the low percentage hook shot attempted at approximately a 90.degree. angle from the front of the shooter's body. Likewise, in baseball, fielders are instructed to position themselves directly in front of a ground ball, allowing them to follow the ball straight into the glove, and greatly reducing the chance of error. Similar logic is believed applicable to putting, where the chance of error can be greatly reduced, and the percentage of completed putts increased, by keeping the ball in front of the golfer along a line-of-sight to the cup.
Croquet style putters have been proposed in the past, which partially recognize the advantage of maintaining such a line-of-sight. However, these clubs also exhibit significant disadvantages. For example, the United States Golf Association rules require that a golfer have both feet on one side of a line extending from the ball to the cup. This rule effectively prohibits swinging a croquet style putter between the legs. Also, the existing croquet style putters are not configured for use with a conventional swing, and so are limited to use in short distance putting. Since a golfer is likely to encounter situations requiring both long and short putts during the course of a game, such putters constitute an additional club to be carried along with a conventional putter.
Many types of golf putters have heretofore been developed for the purpose of improving the chances of an ordinary player to properly strike the golf ball. These developers have concentrated on improving the putter's head shape, obtaining a better balance for the head, changing the ball-striking surface, placing indicia on the head, and the like.
As examples of such golf putters, attention is directed to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. Des.: 196,734, 218,178, 234,206, 234,207, 234,208, 234,209, 234,858, 235,567, 236,517, 239,401, 239,402, 4,592,552, 4,163,554, 5,401,022, 5,474,300 and 239,725, incorporated herein by reference.
Other prior art schemes have been proposed to aid the putter by providing a putter that includes variously weighted handles. Exemplary of these patents are: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,364,102, 4,461,479, 5,465,967 and 5,554,078.
Still other prior art patents have proposed putters having various novel elemental length relationships, elemental weight relationships, and uniquely designed elements, to aid the pursuit of the elusive perfect putt stroke. See for example: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,209,474, 5,632,691 and 5,595,385.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,219,348 for instance, describes a golf putter featuring a handle having a triangular cross section which is supposed to provide a stabilizing means for gripping the club.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,332 describes a putter having an elongated head and is provided with an enlargement projecting upwardly from the top surface of the head and outwardly from the rear surface with the shaft connecting to the head at the enlargement. U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,308 discloses a putter having a head provided with a vertical slot of sufficient width and length dimensions to permit visual observations therethrough of the undersurface, that is, the putting green.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,207 the player must use a side stance, that is, he must face the target or cup and stand with both feet substantially parallel to the line of putt. This putter is provided with an extra-length shaft which ungulates by about 10.degree. from the vertical and terminates in a special-purpose handle. The shaft is made purposely longer than a standard shaft such that the player can putt from a generally upright position. For this purpose, the shaft is about 50 inches long compared to a standard shaft which is about 40" long. The angulation of the shaft at 10.degree. directs the shaft towards the head of the player when the head of the putter is located to one side of the player. The putter head is weighted and a counter-balancing weight is included on the upper end of the handle. This putter requires that one player's hand be placed on the balance point along the shaft and the other hand on the handle.
As is well known, the stance or style of the player contributes significantly to his putting ability and his ultimate chances of success. This is especially true since a large percentage of all strokes in regulation golf play are putts. Moreover, putting skill is developed with relatively few available guidelines compared to the rest of the golf game, resulting in heavy dependence on the part of the player and on the physical embodiment of his preferred putter. It is also evident that for a full understanding of the advantages of one type of putter versus another type, consideration must be given to the putting style to be employed with the particular golf putter.
Many of the sport believe that the most accurate type of putter is that of the croquet type or pendulum type. With these types, putting is basically effected by the pendulum type movement of the club between an individual's legs while the golfer faces the direction in which the ball is to be putted. However, this style of putting has been from time to time, ruled illegal by golf societies who require that a golfer putt from the side of the ball. In addition, special clubs have been designed as an accommodation for handicapped persons who may only have one arm. Such clubs are difficult for such a person to use. In order to obtain any reasonable degree of accuracy such a handicapped person must be provided with still a greater handicap due to the commercial unavailability of putters designed specifically for handicapped persons.
To coordinate the golfer's stance, eyesight alignment, club head movement, and club head angle at impact so that the ball moves along its intended path for the desired distance, takes many hours of practice in order to achieve even marginal success. In an effort to make "lining-up" of a putt somewhat easier, certain golfers have preferred to us e a croquet-style putter. This style allows the golfer to stand with one foot positioned on each side of a line coincident with t he intended path of travel for the ball and to sight directly through the ball rather than standing at a right angle and slightly perpendicular to the intended path. However, in accordance with at least the "1977 Rules of Golf" as approved by the United States Golf Association (USGA), any putter which is intended to be "legal" for USGA sanctioned play shall be designed such that "the axis of the shaft from the top to a point not more than five inches above the sole shall diverge from the vertical by a t least 10.degree. in relation to the horizontal line determining length of head." Consequently, unless a putter is designed with this side angle of at least 10.degree., a feature conventional croquet-style putters do not have, it will not be a "legal" putter. The USGA rules also require that the golfer stand to one side of the intended path rather than being positioned such that a line extension of this intended path is located between the feet.
Examples of prior art devices which have been condemned as "illegal" designs under the "1977 Rules of Golf" were disclosed in a patent to Raymond J. Florian, U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,207 entitled "Golf Putter Construction;" and "Golf World" magazine of Jun. 19, 1964 on page 4.
In order to achieve the advantages of a croquet-style of putting and in order to conform to at least past USGA rules, a putter shaft would have to be arranged such that it angled to the side by at least 10.degree. off of vertical as well as angled to the rear (away from the ball-striking putter face).
As mentioned previously, one advantage of the croquet-style putter is that it enables the golfer to stand so that his line of sight is through the ball and coincident with the intended path of travel of the ball. However, since the golfer must stand to the side of this intended path of travel, one way that sighting in the manner described can be accomplished is to stand so that the feet, positioned behind the ball, are pointed in a direction parallel to this intended path and to lean to the side so that the golfer's head extends over the intended path of travel. Such a stance could be established irrespective of the putter used, but due to club head weight and balancing, most conventional putters swung from this stance will not perform acceptably and current croquet-style putters which are preferred for such a swing are illegal. A related problem to achieving the stance described above, is that with the use of a standard length putter, the golfer must bend at the waist a significant degree in order to be able to grip the club shaft. The contortions of standing to the side, bending well over and leaning to the side place the golfer in an unnatural and awkward position. In this position, it is difficult for the golfer to remain steady, a requisite for any good puffing stroke. To avoid the need to bend at the waist, putters have been designed with elongated shafts, such as disclosed in the "Golf World" reference and by the prior Florian patent. However, although Florian discloses a golf putting technique which is similar in appearance to a "legal" croquet-style of swing, there are disadvantages with this design. The shaft in Florian is offset at a 10.degree. angle to the side relative to the line of intended travel of the ball, but the shaft is not bent to the rear as a croquet-style putter is bent. The stance of the golfer makes it difficult to sight through the ball, as the golfer's eyes are not in line with the ball and the hole. As the club is drawn back, the 10.degree. offset causes an arc to be swept around the golfer's body, and when the downward swing occurs, the club head control and a true pendulum motion are difficult to achieve.
A final feature of putters in general, and in particular putters having elongated shafts, is that the "feel" of the club as transmitted through the grips to the golfer's hands is important for control and accuracy. The farther the hands are placed from the point of impact to the ball, the more difficult the control of the putt. Thus, the "Golf World" reference and the Florian patent, which disclose elongated shafts, also disclose two gripping portions, the lower portion providing a gripping location closer to the point of impact. An equally important feature is the material used for the gripping portions. If the material is too soft or too hard, it may not transmit the necessary feel to the hands. It is preferred that putters which have the two gripping portions and which are swung in a croquet style, be pivoted by the hand on the upper grip and guided by the hand on the lower grip. Thus it would be an improvement to the prior art to construct the upper gripping portion out of a relatively soft, synthetic material enabling a secure and firm hold on the putter shaft, and the lower gripping portion to be constructed out of a harder synthetic material for greater sensitivity to the club head movement and ball impact. U.S. Pat. No. 1,213,014 issued to Rees also discloses a golf club shaft having two distinct grips. However, the purpose of these two grips is to allow the club swing to be controlled by selected fingers and for the other fingers to have virtually no effect as to this control.
Putting principles are also described U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,679,207 and 4,227,694. Each of the above inventions addresses one or several of the three most important elements of successful putting which are: 1) orienting the putter head such that at the point of impact the head face is perpendicular to the desired path for the ball to travel, 2) impacting the ball at its centerline, and 3) swinging the putter with a smooth motion in line with the desired direction of ball travel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,605,228 teaches that there are various problems related to putting which golfers have attempted to overcome in their search for the ultimate putter. This patent teaches several approaches that have been used to develop putters that accurately propel a golf ball to the cup. The putter configuration is used in a modified croquet style stance using the golfer's arm as part of a pendulum arm; and because of the short shaft length, the invention requires constant modification of the golfer's stance in order to use the putter for various length putts resulting in inconsistent results. Additionally, putters of this configuration require the golfer's body to guide the putter towards the ball when putting. The muscular action of guiding the putter towards the ball compounds the putting problems due to the difficulty in maintaining the putter head orientation relative to the ball and desired path of ball travel. This effect may result in the putter face striking on the ball at various points of impact.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,679,207 also teaches the use of a modified croquet style of putting using a long shaft putter. This long shaft putter helps the golfer by allowing the use of a similar stance and body/putter relationship under varying conditions. While the position and stance variation problems with putters used in a modified croquet style is alleviated by this configuration, the golfer's body has a tendency to twist as the putter is swung. This twisting results in a roundhouse swing at the ball which makes hitting the ball centerline with the putter face perpendicular to the desired path of ball travel very difficult to consistently accomplish.
Many of the aforedescribed problems are overcome by the pendulum type putters shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,170,690 and 4,491,323. The putter of U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,690 uses a rigid shaft hinged to a rigid handle which, due to its employment of a pendulum-like principle, enables the golfer to more consistently impact the putter head at the ball centerline. While the putter is an improvement over non-pendulum putters, the bi-directional hinged construction uses a singular pivot axis which is difficult to align with the desired ball path. This construction also makes the ball roll distance difficult to control. The invention of U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,323 is also difficult to maintain in proper alignment. In this patent, the bearing faces located at the putter top have a singular pivot axis and must be in correct alignment with the desired ball path. Because of the small size of the club's gripping device, it is difficult to appreciate its alignment with the desired ball path; consequently, aiming the putter is relatively difficult.
None of the foregoing prior art references teach a golf putter with increased mass and a compensating mass distribution sufficient to maximize the "sweet spot" on the putter head and advantageously employ the physical principle of inertia. Surprisingly, through such means, the present invention substantially minimizes extraneous error which could influence a putt stroke after the golfer has committed to it, simply through the practical application of principles of physics. Thus, the availability of such a putter would be of great advantage to golfers.